NGO say most schools still face major difficulties

Tamale, Oct. 24, GNA – Mr. Gaskin Dassah, Coordinator of the Northern Network for Education Development (NNED), has said a survey conducted by his outfit in three districts of the Northern Region shows that most public schools had failed to comply with the 2007 education reforms.

This, he said, had resulted in inadequate and inappropriate classrooms with inadequate trained teachers at the kindergarten level, inappropriate textbooks and teaching and learning materials and the failure to abide by the rule to admit four-olds to KG.

He said the survey conducted in the Karaga, West Mamprusi and Tolon districts for the kindergarten level also revealed the absence of toilets and urinals as well as absence of play grounds, adding that some schools do not benefit from the Ghana School Feeding Programme.

Mr. Dassah said it was worrying that not all the primary schools in the districts adhered to the policy that they should have KGs as demanded by GES adding “tendency to assign untrained teachers to handle KG classes is very high”.

He said by policy, all public primary schools in Ghana were expected to have Kindergartens (KGs) attached to them in line with the first of the six Education for All (EFA) goals and the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which demands providing access to all Ghanaian children of school going age.

Mr Dassah said while this policy was seen as a positive step in contributing to meeting the education related MDGs, its implementation remained a big challenge and called on the government and the GES to fix the situation.

Mr. Dassah said even though there was high enrolment at the KGs, transition from KG 1 to KG 2 was low, with 40% for girls and 45% for boys.